A Christmas gift to my readers – the Man Slouch.

I’d like to celebrate today with a free pattern for my awesome blog readers🙂 Thank you everyone, for making the Blue Brick such an enjoyable, inspiring experience! This simple slouch/touque is a quick, mindless, easy knit for both guys and gals, but really, it’s one for your man.

Because, let’s face it; guys are picky. It can’t be too detailed, in a girly colour or contain un-manly motifs. Here then, is a base pattern for a very simple hat that can be worn slouchy or not, and dressed up in a number of ways for the more adventurous, from using variegated or self striping yarn to filling in the stockinette sections with your choice of pattern (seed, moss, lace etc.).

The pattern is available for free on Ravelry – Project page here🙂 In response to the ambitious yet disorganized among us (including me…): yes, if you start one today it can be ready for Christmas!

However, and whatever you celebrate, I hope you have a beautiful holiday season🙂

I’ve just finished the Man Slouch. I’m a beginner at knitting, and the pattern was raved about by all my friends, even my knitting teacher wanted a copy of the pattern. Its really easy to knit and the end result is cool stuff for all the blokes in my life. Thank you heaps for providing such a fab pattern

I made this for a Christmas present for my neighbor (he’s like a son to me) and later told me it’s his favorite Christmas present! He has had people comment on it. I made it out of a variegated and it turned out awesome! Love this pattern!

Hi there! It’s a pretty forgiving fit, so I suspect you’re fine🙂 If you are worried you can always increase your cast-on number – I recommend swatching, seeing how many stitches you’re getting to the inch, and increase the cast on accordingly. Measure your guys head to get the right number, and don’t forget to swatch in the round because it can really change your gauge🙂

Love this pattern but I am confused about the reference in the main hat body section “to work 1 row of decreases as follows: Row 9: “K7, k2tog* repeat from * to end (136 stitches). Why is a decrease worked in this section and why do the directions refer to Row 9? And what is the Row 9 in reference to? Thanks for sharing this great pattern and am looking forward to the answers to my questions.

Hi Valerie, Mimi,
I apologize for the delay in answering Mimi’s question – I got married on October 10th and left for honeymoon right away🙂 I had limited access to the internet and have only just arrived back in Toronto.
There is a lot to catch up on, but please rest assured that I haven’t been ignoring your questions🙂 I’ll look into it right away.
Best,
Shireen

Ah, I see where the confusion starts🙂 After the ribbed section you increase at the beginning of the main hat, and you decrease at the end of the main body to bring you back to your original stitch count. The reason is because it’s a slouch, and the increases through the main body give the hat a bit more of a slouchy feel. Once the main body is complete, those extra stitches are no longer needed, so they are decreased before the crown shaping. Hope that helps, and sorry again for the delay.

I came across this pattern the other day and I remembered I had asked you a question. Thanks for answering it. I guess what threw me off was you mentioning Row 9. I thought it was referencing Row 9 in the crown shaping. I understand now. Hope you are enjoying being married. Is the guy modeling the slouch hat, your husband?🙂

Hello! I have never knitted a hat on straight needles, though I know it can be done!
If you knit the pattern as written, and seam up the back, it *should* work, but I’m not sure how well. You can always stick with circulars instead of dpns, or learn to use the magic loop technique for small diameter knitting when it comes time to close the hat! Hope that helps🙂